East Lyme to pay $25,000 toward purchase of Bayreuther Property

East Lyme — The Board of Selectmen voted Wednesday to contribute $25,000 toward purchasing the Bayreuther Property, a 37-acre parcel in the Oswegatchie Hills near the Niantic River.

Funding from the state, a local nonprofit organization and a private foundation will complete the $300,000 purchase of the undeveloped property with frontage on Quarry Dock Road.

A state grant of $100,000, approved by the State Bond Commission, will help with the purchase, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced in January. A private foundation, The Thompson Family Foundation, has pledged a $150,000 donation, and the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills will contribute the remaining $25,000.

Kris Lambert, president of the Friends group, said at Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting that the nonprofit organization has already raised more than $20,000 for the parcel. The Friends will hold a conservation easement on the property, while the town will own the land.

The Bayreuther Property abuts a 420-acre preserve in the hills, managed by the Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills and the town. Landmark Development, a Middletown-based company, owns acreage north of the preserve and has submitted several applications over the years to build a residential complex there.

The $25,000 funding from the town’s open space fund, approved by the selectmen, will next proceed to the Board of Finance and then a town meeting at 7 p.m. on Aug. 6 at Town Hall for approval.